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I am a happy subscriber to XM Radio, solely for the reason of the Boneyard. As of late, I was kind of wondering if I may be missing out. I haven’t ever had the opportunity to listen to Hair Nation, and I was wondering, could it possibly be better than the Boneyard?

It is always great when you can pop a new CD into your player and know immediately that you are going to love it.

Krokus’ latest CD Hellraiser is one of those kind of CD’s.

The first song kicks it up, and the whole CD doesn’t let up. Suprisingly, this CD stands up to anything Krokus has ever done, and actually may a bit better from some of their older stuff.

This CD sounds like it could have been written in the middle of the 80’s hard rock scene, and personally, I could not be happier. It reminds me of AC/DC in a sense, but it is better than the last couple of discs those guys put out, and definitely more melodic.

Plenty of sing along lyrics, kick ass drums, and guitar solos in just about every song. This is what made 80 hard rock great, and Krokus Hellraiser one of the best new Hard Rock CD’s in 2006.

My current favorite tracks are Hellraiser, Too Wired to Sleep, Spirit of the Night, and Midnight Fantasy.

Paul Stanley has released his first solo album in 28 years. Does it live up to the hype? Read on.

If you are picking this up, and thinking you are going to get a new KISS sounding CD, you are wrong. I would say that Live to Win is closer to the Bon Jovi style of music than KISS.

This CD is laden with a bunch of pop metal tunes some of which are obviously better than others. The title track Live to Win is pretty decent, and is one of the better tracks on the CD. Lift sound more like a modern rock tune and isn’t too bad. Wake Up Screaming starts with that electronic drum beat thing going on, and for some reason, this song gets on my nerves. Stanley’s voice cracks in a couple of places here as well. Everytime I See Your Around slows it down, and is not a good song to follow up W.U.S. I usually have to skip those to songs.

Bulletproof picks up the pace a little bit. Its another decent Pop Metal effort. I could almost hear this one on a KISS album.

The lyrics for All About You makes me think about Happy Bunny. It is an ok song.

Second to None, slows it back down again, and it is a better song than I expected it to be. It’s Not Me is a mid tempo pop/rock and it is a pretty decent song.

Loving You Without You Now slows it back down again. I do not like this song at all. It grates on my nerves.

Where Angels Dare ends this disc with a pretty good rock number. If more guitars and bass were added to this song, this could also easily be a KISS song. Not a bad way to end this disc.

I have listened to this a few times, and I don’t love or hate this disc. I think the guitars and bass on some of these songs are pretty thin. Stanley’s voice is certainly the focal point of all of the songs here. Paul sounds great on most of the tracks, but I can hear his voice crack in a couple of places. Its a solid effort from Paul Stanley. This disc makes me wonder how good a new KISS CD with new material would sound today.